Review: Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Ann Baumbich

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I recently signed up with “Blogging for Books” and this is the first book I’ve received to review. “Finding Our Way Home” tells the story of two women: Sasha Davis, a prima ballerina injured in a tragic accident, and Evelyn Burt, her kind-hearted but bumbling and very naive assistant. Both women are on a journey to self-discovery and healing, where they learn that God’s grace is what they need to get them through their troubles. This book is part of Ms. Baumbich’s “Snowglobe” series.

After Sasha Davis is seriously injured in a dancing accident, she leaves her dancer husband and returns to her childhood home in Wisconsin to begin the process of healing. Evelyn Burt, a larger than life nineteen-year-old, is hired as her personal assistant. Sasha is angry, bitter, and scared. Evelyn is newly engaged, naive, and enthusiastic. Her engagement, however, has strained her relationship with her parents. Both women are seeking to repair important relationships and find new freedoms. This story is their journey.

While I enjoyed reading this novel (which reminded me a bit of my beloved Mitford books), I did have some trouble keeping with it. I felt the pacing was slow and the characters were a bit unbelievable. Would Sasha really turn her back completely on her beloved husband who only wants to be there for her? Could Evelyn really be that incredibly naive? I found it stretched my imagination a bit too much. That said, I did enjoy the story and felt that Ms. Baumbich draws in God’s presence with a light touch that is simple yet very effective.

You can find out more about this novel:

Visit Charlene Ann Baumbich’s website:

http://charleneannbaumbich.com/index.html

Read the first chapter: 

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2011/11/15/sneak-peek-finding-our-way-home-by-charlene-ann-baumbich/

Thank you, Water Brook Press and Blogging for Books, for my copy!

Review: The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston

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I loved, loved, loved this unique novel I picked up today at the library on the new releases shelf. Told in pictures and memorabilia from the 1920’s, Frances “Frankie” Pratt is a young woman newly graduated from high school in 1920 and planning the rest of her life. Her mother gives her a scrapbook for her high school graduation, and she finds her deceased father’s Corona typewriter in the barn (Frankie dreams of being a writer). What follows is an engaging look at a young girl becoming a woman in a time that now almost 100 years ago. Told entirely through Frankie’s scrapbook, we follow her from high school, to her first job, to her first fling, to college, to Europe, and beyond.

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in an afternoon.

Love the book trailer from You Tube!

Quick Cookbook Review: “Soup of the Day” by Kate McMillan (Williams-Sonoma)

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I had a chance to download this cookbook through Net Galley. I loved it so much I’m going to purchase it (and its companion “Salad of the Day” book).

This cookbook presents 365 soups – one for each day of the year – set off in calendars. As a very non-creative cook, I appreciated all the wonderful recipes and ways to create soup for my family. While some of my friends prefer cookbooks that show step by step prep with pictures, this book had one picture of the finished product for some of the soups (or at least my digital download did). I still really liked it and got some great ideas for soup beyond my two standards: pumpkin at Thanksgiving and chicken.

I’d be curious as to whether others have used and enjoyed this cookbook or its salad counterpart!

Thanks, Net Galley!

Review of the latest Gaslight Mystery – “Murder on Fifth Avenue” by Victoria Thompson

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I love, love, love this historical cozy mystery series, set in New York at the turn of the century. Sarah Brandt, midwife and daughter of a wealthy family, pairs with Irish cop Frank Malloy to solve murders and mysteries in the city. Thompson pays great attention to historical details and her books are really a delight to read.

In this installment (apparently number 14 in the series – I’ve read them all but lost track), Sarah’s father, the rather pompous Felix Decker, has called upon Malloy and Sarah to investigate the mysterious death of a friend from his club. It appeared that victim had been stabbed by a small sharp object, didn’t realize he had a mortal wound, and was going about his business until he died in his chair. The victim, Chilton Devries, was a wealthy businessman but truly a horrible and abusive man, and there are no shortage of suspects. Sarah and Frank must work together to figure out who had the means and motive, and then bring the killer to justice (even though most folks were relieved by Devries’ death).

I love this series, and while I loved this installment, I felt it took a good fifty pages to “get going”. There was a lot of time devoted to Mr. Decker asking Frank, and Sarah, and even Sarah’s mother to help out, and then the subsequent conversations between the aforementioned individuals. I also missed the “personal” piece that often figures in this book: Sarah and her daughter, Sarah and Maeve, and – most importantly – Sarah and Frank! I also didn’t like that near the end, the murder weapon was revealed to be a different murder weapon than previously thought. However, all in all, it was another enjoyable read in the series!

I got mine at the library.

Quick YA Review: “Hanging by a Thread” by Sophie Littlefield

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Fitting in with my YA supernatural powers reading kick was this novel by first time author Sophie Littlefield. “Hanging by a Thread” is the suspense story of Clare Knight: new teen in town with the power to capture people’s emotions and memories from the clothes they wore. Clare has a gift for fashion and starts her own business designing and making over second-hand fashions. However, the town has a few dark secrets – such as what happened to Amanda Stavros, a teen who disappeared without a trace. Is Amanda dead? And if so, who killed her? When Clare discovers Amanda’s jacket in a bin of used clothes and starts getting emotions from it, she becomes determined to unravel the mystery – even if it means uncovering a murderer.

I really enjoyed this story, which was a quick read for me. The mystery was well-plotted and Clare was a likable character. It won’t release for a few months yet, but you can pre-order it on Amazon. I look forward to more from this author!

Thank you, Net Galley and Delacorte Books, for my copy to review!

YA Review: “The Unquiet” by Jeannine Garsee

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I’ve been on a YA supernatural reading kick lately, and got this one from Net Galley last month.

“The Unquiet” is the story of Corinne – or Rinn – Jacobs, a teen who moves with her mom to a new town and new school and is looking to start over. Rinn has some serious mental health issues, and is relieved to make new friends who are accepting and understanding. Not only are these friends popular and fun to be with, the boy across the street is also amazingly cute and interested in her. All is going well until strange things start happening down a deserted hallway at school. The teens are convinced that a ghost is haunting them and Rinn decides that she will get to the bottom of all the happenings.

I really enjoyed this novel, which I would recommend for high school and up (due to mature themes). I also felt Garsee, who is a psychiatric nurse by day, did a sensitive and thoughtful job in writing of the complexities of teens on medication and of mental health.

In this story, the ghost is haunting a deserted pool area which is fenced off, but the students still pass through this dark and deserted walkway to get to class as they are not allowed to “cut through the gym”. I found this rather hard to believe until I read in the afterword that Garsee bases this story on a walkway she had in her own school as a little girl. It, too, had a disused and deserted part over to the side that totally creeped her out and stayed with her, lending itself to this ghost story now.

This book trailer – set to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – might even be creepier than the novel!

Thanks, Net Galley and Bloomsbury USA, for my copy!

Review of the latest Molly Murphy mystery: “Hush Now, Don’t You Cry” by Rhys Bowen

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If you read me, you know I read all the Molly Murphy and Her Royal Spyness cozy mysteries from Rhys Bowen. I was excited to see on the new release shelf at the library the latest Molly Murphy story. This time Molly and Daniel are married and on their delayed honeymoon, visiting at a mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. They’ve hardly arrived when their guest, whom they haven’t seen yet, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Their host is lying where his young granddaughter was also found dead four years earlier. Daniel then becomes deathly ill with pneumonia and Molly is left to unravel the mystery, which includes all sort of twists, subplots, and suspects.

I always enjoy a Molly Murphy historical mystery, and I especially liked the setting for this one: beautiful Newport. Did I guess the murderer? Yes. Did I guess a motive. Yes, once I guessed the murderer. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have to say, though, that I still find the character of Daniel irritating. He’s so focused on Molly as “the little woman” that one must wonder if their marriage will last (and if it does, will this series?). He always seems a little out in left field to me in regards to the mysteries, too. If I was writing this series, I just might kill him off.

Anyhow, if you like these stories, I think you’ll enjoy the latest!

YA Review: The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon

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I downloaded “The Twisted Thread” from Net Galley last month. I would have loved reading this book as a teen: beautiful and popular senior girl found dead in her room at prestigious private boarding school, and – gasp! – she had been pregnant! Who killed her? Where is the baby? What secrets are being hidden behind those ivy covered walls? Junior faculty member Maddie Christopher becomes embroiled in untangling the threads of this mystery.

I enjoyed this well-plotted YA suspense novel. I can be a hard critic of stories set in private schools since I worked in one for so many years. Too many times the depictions of boarding school life are fairly outrageous and ridiculous with wealthy, privileged kids running willy-nilly and ignorant adults being conveniently absent. I give Ms. Bacon credit for giving an accurate portrayal  of life in an independent school. I thought her depiction of Maddie as a young faculty member was particularly well-done and believable. In fact I would bet money that Ms. Bacon has either taught in or attended boarding school herself. The strength of this story, in my opinion, lies in Ms. Bacon’s depictions of the various relationships portrayed.

Thanks, Net Galley and Hyperion Voice for my copy!

Quick Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

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I grabbed this last week from the new release shelf at the library. I found the length – over 800 pages – completely daunting, but figured my love of King’s writing would see me through.

This tome follows the adventure of Jake Epping- single, high school English teacher- as he warps through time in an attempt to save the life of John F. Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas.

Oh, how I love the concept of time travel! Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated with the construct of parallel worlds and moving between them through time and space. I always thought it seemed logical that if you could just go fast enough – and backwards – you could revisit something that had already taken place. Anyhow, when Jake’s dying friend Al shares his secret with him (there’s a “rabbit-hole time warp” in the basement of his diner), he entrusts Jake with the task of going back and changing history, presumably for the better.

This story brings up the question of the butterfly effect again and again, and the most basic questions: if you change one thing in the past, how does it affect the future and how can you know it will affect it for the better?

Loved, loved, loved this book!

Quick Review: January First by Michael Schofield (Releasing in August)

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Through Net Galley I received an ARC download of this novel, whose full title is: “January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and her Father’s Struggle to Save Her”. I had heard about this book – I think on NPR – and was intrigued to read this true story.

January Schofield is a brilliant and precocious young girl with a vivid imaginary life. As January develops, however, her creativity and genius is occluded by what is finally diagnosed, at age six, as childhood schizophrenia. January’s case is marked by severe violence and almost constant hallucinations. Her doctors struggle to understand her and to find medications that will effectively treat her, while her family struggles to keep her (and her little brother) safe.

I found this novel to be an incredibly compelling read. I started it one evening and read through until 2 AM in order to finish it. I think one of the things that drew me to this book was how incredibly human the parents were. You could just feel how they were struggling and how they were willing to do whatever they could for their child (actually children), even if it meant living apart. Their painful journey is described in detail through the father’s voice.

Thanks, Net Galley and Crown Publishers for my copy!